


The City is the Place for People Like Us

by njp695



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/F, Humanstuck
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-07-17
Updated: 2014-04-26
Packaged: 2017-12-20 10:31:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/886214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/njp695/pseuds/njp695
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A longer than average fic following Victoria Sessions and her run in with her old high school friend, Kristen Martin. A rekindling of an old friendship? Or have their feelings changed into something more?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The night was warm with the coming summer, and the city grew more and more restless as it drew, as if the Big Apple itself was a student at one of its many colleges, eager to discover if all their cramming during the night would pay off in the coming weeks for exams. At least, that was how Torri saw it. Whether it was her projecting her feelings onto the city or if it was the people she was around hat made her feel this way is irrelevant. It’s all pretty stupid to her, at least right now.

 

The little light that clung to the air at this hour lit Torri’s way down the block. Her makeup was as damaged as her appearance at this point; her half-cut tank top and her short shorts were wrinkled and tethered more than usual, and the cobalt thong she wore just barely shown over her belt line. She dug deeper within her light jacket with hands shoved deep into her pockets. Her modest hand bag was all that really proved she was an upper class student, or at least that she came from a wealthy family. Behind the cover of her jacket she clutched onto a sizeable pocket knife. Nothing had happened to her on any of her previous nightly haunts; however she wasn’t ready to change that tonight.

 

Her client tonight had lived in a different side of town. She would hail a taxi back to her place, that is, if any were around. She was unfamiliar with the subways in this borough as well, so taking a train wouldn’t prove convenient. Torri pressed her shoulders back and up, murmuring how she shouldn’t have stayed as long as she did. The guy was an asshole, too. She shrugged off the thought of him and occupied herself with how to get home as soon as possible. She was fairly exhausted, and her day was quite long and straining. She turned a corner and spotted a 7/11, like a beacon of relative hope on her odyssey home. She hurried over and pressed through the doors.

 

The inside was so bright; it felt like being at a laundry mat at 3AM. She walked pass the cashier and straight towards the beverage isle as per routine. She took a glance at the alcohol section, checking to see if they had any Pat's Blue Ribbon or her favorite Samuel Adams Summer Ale. Unfortunately neither of them was there, so she shrugged and instead grabbed a six pack of Heineken and a can of Monster Energy. She’ll use the monster to keep her awake for the long voyage and planned to drink the beer back home to wash her away to sleep. She made a note to herself to try and break the alcohol addiction once school came back in full swing when next semester began. Torri herself was majoring in music composition at one of the minor universities in the city. Next year she was looking to transfer to NYU to continue her studies; she was still amazed she even had the chance of going to NYU, but she told herself to focus on the now and worry about surviving the nights first. So she grabbed the drinks, a few snacks for the way (two $2 bags of sour cream and onion and cheddar cheese chips, and a pack of M&Ms in Torri’s world that was the variety in her eating habits), and made her way to the cashier.

 

At the counter she deposited her items in front of the cashier and started for her wallet. She noticed in the back of her head that the cashier had been a little slow to check out her stuff. Torri figured that they were waiting on her to get her ID out, or that they were just in awe at how much of a shit train wreck she was right now; in her mind the last one was more likely. In either case she finally pulled out her wallet from her bag, and looked up at the cashier finally. She quickly caught her jade eyes dazed and glued to her, and their eyes lock for a moment before Torri notice she was leaning in on her. She was examining, almost studying her for whatever reason, and she started to do the same behind her brown, foggy eyes. The two of them examined each other for a few more fleeting moments before the cashier finally spoke up, breaking the dull silence within the desolate 7/11, her voice raised in astonishment.

 

“Victoria Sessions?!”

 

 _“Oh my god,”_ Torri’s mind raced. _“How the hell did they know me?”_ She hoped for her own sake that it wasn’t one of her clients that she had forgotten about already (but then how do they know her _real_ name?)But suddenly it hit her; the teased up short hair, absolutely flawless skin, Asian olive complexion and eyes, jade highlights, a few exaggerated feminine features; she knew exactly who this was, and it came almost as a shock to have met her here.

 

“Kristen Martin!” the name rolls off Victoria’s tongue like it was her favorite word. They both grew smiles and Victoria giggled. “Hehehe oh my gosh, this is the last place I expected you!”

 

“I can say the same for you, Victoria.” Kristen replied, a bit of warmth in her calm, unmoving voice. “What ever happened to you after High School?” These words came out lethargically, in an almost disappointing tone as though she weren’t talking to Victoria at all, but just to herself.

 

However, she understood her tone to not be as serious as it sound, greeting the old friend as she said, “Work, you know how it is. And hey at least I’m still in school! I’m transferring into NYU next semester, actually!” _Might_ be.

 

“My my, impressive. This is an even greater feat knowing you were the one who was prepared to drop out of high school in order to not deal with your science teacher.”

 

“H-hey! C’mon science is still a stupid class. C’mon, you can at least agree with me Professor English was a lousy teacher, if not absolutely horrible!”

 

“I found him to be a rather excellent teacher; had you done your work you could have said the same.”

 

“Aww, just shut up and bring it in!” Victoria jogged around the counter to her old friend for a hug. As much as she was glad to be out of high school, she dearly missed a lot of her friends; her and her best friend Terri use to be an unstoppable team in their D&D ring, along with her ex-boyfriend, Thomas, who made the mistake of joining the wrong team. She even began to miss Pat (that was his first name, but everyone just called him by his last name, Carway), the loudmouth class president. Kristen had been a good friend of Victoria’s; when she was going through relationship problems with the British upperclassman asshole, Eric, Kristen was there for her to support her emotionally. She hadn’t really acknowledged her help and how valuable it was to her, but not on purpose. She was very grateful for her help however she was so wrapped up in her plot for revenge to give her the time of day.

 

“Naturally if it wasn’t you, I’d object,” Kristen began, hugging her high school friend warmly. “I would be fearful I would contract whatever disease have clung to their clothes, or become smothered in glitter.”

 

Victoria scoffed her playfully as they parted from their hug, keeping her playful tone when she replied, “Hey! There’s nothing wrong with having some fun with your job! Don’t you dare slut shame me!”

 

“I am not shaming you for having sex more frequently than others. However, that garb is positively primeval and provocative. Does your employer make you wear such awful clothes?”

 

“Kinda, yeah. It’s this weird dress code the manager has for us. Kinda hard to explain, really.”

 

Kristen giggled and turned back to ring her up. “Never in my life would I think of calling _that_ a dress code.  Just be lucky it’s not winter.”

 

“Heh, trust me I am,” Victoria made her way back to the other side of the counter. “A light breeze literally just blows through all of this. I don’t like it either, so I’m on your side of things, here.”

 

“I realize. Anyways,” she sighed, beginning to bag the items. “That’ll be eighteen forty-three, please.” Her words were like printed letters strung together; Victoria could tell that she had said something like that at least a million times; however she had warmth to her voice that she guessed wasn’t normally there. She was glad that she had that warmth at least. It helped to prove to her that she was genuinely glad to see her.

 

She realized when she looked down at her pocketbook that she already had her ID out and remembered why. “Are you not going to card me??” She asked, holding up her card, her other hand loosely rummaging through her pocketbook.

 

“I already did,” Kristen replied, a hint of her cheeky attitude still present that kept Victoria endeared. “You couldn’t stop showing everybody when you finally god your license senior year.” She looked up from the bags to examine the card, presumably for the nostalgia. “Let see… Victoria Esperanza Sessions, your middle name was formerly your grandmother’s, or your mother’s mother, and she had passed away nights before you were born.”

 

She continued to recite the same lines Victoria once fed her in high school. “First name means victory in multiple languages with Latin root, and you had no idea where Sessions came from.” She giggled a bit at the end of her sentence and glanced up at Victoria who had pulled out a hand full of crunched up and smashed money, a variety of coins and the like.

 

“I remember one day I was thinking about you, and… Well I just couldn’t figure out where your last name, Sessions, came from. Of course, I remembered how you always use to boast that you had no idea what it was – and to be honest, I always thought you just said that even if you knew – but in either case, I looked it up and it turns out…” She paused. Victoria by now had put her license away and was fully preoccupied by finding money in her pocketbook.

 

“Sessions is actually an old English family,” she began again. “Taking its roots primarily in central England, however they were some of the oldest families to settle in the new world, close to the turn of the century in the 1690’s. In America they are mostly a New England family name, however some members exist in areas like Florida and California. Many of the Session’s family members are rather affluent at this point, several of them living in the top 1% of the world’s economic Hierarchy.”

 

She giggled to herself at this, beginning to count up the money Victoria was pulling out of every crevasse of her pocketbook. “I guess when I read this fact… I figured you must be one of those kinds of people by now.”

 

Victoria stopped and looked up at her, primarily because there was nothing more in the dark pockets of her endless pocketbook, but also because of Kristen’s sentiment. She thought about what she said, almost stunned as she stared at her, unfolding and put together dollar bill after dollar bill. What would motivate her to say something so positive about her? She remembered all too well how Kristen was always concerned for Victoria’s well being after High school, and she was always teased by her at the same time for having such “fantastic academics, well suited for future careers” in a very sarcastic tone. Why did she think of her in such an unreasonably positive light? This was very much unlike her, or at least, unlike the Kristen Victoria knew. What made her change?

 

Victoria didn’t say anything about this fact when Kristen paused to count her pocket change, then she fronded and looked up at her with an upset look. “This is only about ten dollars and some fifty change, Victoria.”

 

“Oh, damn it all!” she cursed, pissed off that she couldn’t afford even the necessities. She shook her head and looked down, turning to the side as she started waving her hand, the other pinched her nose as she commanded, “Alright alright, take out the beer and the chips-!”

 

Kristen wasn’t listening, but instead she reached from behind the counter for something, replying sweetly, “You shoosh yourself, now. It’s no trouble at all, actually.”

 

Victoria knew exactly what she was doing; “Nooooo, no no no, don’t you dare do this-!”

 

“I said hush your mouth and accept my generosity.” She shot back a casual and warm but commanding voice. Victoria understood the sternness hidden under her calm and almost chilling voice, and with a huff and crossed arms allowed Kristen to take out her wallet and swipe her credit card to pay for her. She rang herself up as Victoria took back her money with annoyance written all over her face. As much as she loved her sister for being a much better mother-figure than their mom, she was never a fan of motherly favors and debt that wasn’t repaid. It never sat well with her, it made her feel like a kid who couldn’t take care of herself, and debt never sat well with her.

 

“This doesn’t sit well with me…” Victoria began to protest half-heartedly. She didn’t expect these words to start anything, which was exactly what it did.

 

“Take no mind of it, really. See,” she pointed to the monitor on the pad where she would sign her name, and as she continued to click at the cash register, she got her discount after discount until it all was just a dollar and twelve cents. “Through the system, you do not even owe me much at all.”

 

“In reality I still owe you for all those fucking stupid discounts.” Victoria’s irritated tone only began to subside slightly. She was clever behind the cash register, but she’s always been cheekily clever since Victoria knew here. She was the brains behind their epic Senior prank, which was hoisting the principals car up to the second floor of the building, and her would also assist the technological side of the upperclassmen’s pranks as well; reprogramming the computer’s boot up routine with sound clips from porn videos that would not go away regardless of the volume, and with the help of their Ukrainian foreign exchange student, her and Sol got together and triggered at least 6 different fire drills a day for at least 2 weeks. All of the pranks were glorious, even Victoria’s 15 minutes of fame was somehow filling each hallway with a one-by-one foot grid of cuts filled with water. There must have been at least twenty thousand cups by the end of it all, and to this day she will not tell how she did it all in one night.

 

Victoria zipped up her pocketbook and took her things, surprised more still at her comment about affluence based on family rather than her ability to mark down an eighteen forty-three price to a one twelve deal. She thanked her and began saying her goodbyes as she was headed for the door. Then something hit her.

 

She was going to walk back out into that unforgiving city, in an area that is more or less dangerous for someone dressed like her, with no means of getting home that she knew of, and just about lost. She had her hand on the door handle and froze for a moment while she thought about it; of course this would be the only case ever she would hold onto the handle of a door for as long as she did. Then she turned back and looked over at Kristen, who was still watching her with her blank stare. It seemed like there was something else there. Something obvious, like curiosity or confusion, or something else entirely. Nevertheless she remained expressionless and unreadable.

 

Victoria was the first to shatter that moment they’d had; their eyes locked in silence until she spoke up and asked, “You…. Kay you don’t live around here, do you?”

 

“Yes, I am just a short distance’s walk from here.” she replied, but then a very faint grin became of her mouth when she answered her silent question. “My living accommodations use to hold up to four people, but now that they have all moved out you can stay in one of their rooms for the time being.”

 

Victoria giggled in joy. “Thank you so much, Chris!” She bounded over again (which was difficult given her cheep high heels) and came around to hug Kristen tightly. “Oh my god Kay you are the bessst!! I was so scared I had to go walking out there again and I didn’t even know my way around this place and-!”

 

“It’s ok, now,” Kristen soothed her with her arms as they reciprocated the hug, holding her gently and caringly. “Let’s get you a place to stay, then. My shift is over anyways.”

 

“Alright, I’ll be right outside!” Victoria couldn’t stop grinning as she also jogged out of the store. When she got out of the store and rested her back on the brick way beside it, she remembered that she had a few joint she was saving in case she got stressed out. She reached into her pocketbook and pulled out one of them and grabbed her Zippo. It was hard to imagine only a few years ago the green herb she held wrapped in harmless paper in her hand was considered illegal in the city. Hell, if she wanted a cheap C-Class bud she could have just walked back in and bought one. Of course she wouldn’t because Victoria considered herself a refined smoker who wouldn’t settle for anything less than the best (of course what she had wasn’t that great either, but it was better than the 7/11 brands.

 

She lit up the end of the joint as Kristen finally walked out, a fancy leather jacket draped over her shoulders. Her stupid green apron was gone, and she could see more of her nightly attire: a light grey poncho-like sweater with a low, deep cut long-sleeved white shirt underneath, a pair of beige designer pants and black plush heels that graced her picture-perfect feet. Her voice brought Victoria’s gaze back up to her face; “Shall we go?”

 

“Let’s get outa here!” she agreed, the two giggling as they went. They crossed the street and continued down the desolate road. Back at the store, the lights were bright and still on, although the place was vacant. Not a single soul resided within the place. All that was left of their presence was a few loose change Victoria forgot to pick up and a post it note left on the counter. In neat cursive pen, it read, “Nobody’s here, take what you want. =D” –K.M


	2. Chapter 2

The door hinge struggled to open at first, but shortly after she fiddled with her keys and popped the lock, Kristen’s gentle figure pressed through the heavy door into her studio apartment, followed closely by her disheveled friend. Victoria took a breath to make a ridiculous remark about something clearly unrelated as per usual, but as soon as she saw the interior of Kristen’s apartment she had lost the irrelevant thought; a small living room with a couch, doubling as a kitchen with the coffee table across from the couch that still had a box of leftover pizza on it (enough to fit two comfortably), and a heavy-set primitive air conditioner protruding out the window. Along the window to the right were a speaker and a record player that was spinning some indie-alt band she had never heard of. In her studies at her university she had mostly been cramming with modern composers. Names like Michael Howard, Hanz Zimmerman and Adam Fong were household names to her as of recently (at least, household terms in her mind, using the term loosely to express the common expression of- you know what, you get what I mean), and while she really could use a bit of a break from all of the studying she did in her limited free time, the commonplace names were all but scratching the surface for the names she had to remember in the study of modern classical music. There was still much she had forgotten that was left written in her notes that she still had to study from.

Taking her first steps into the new world that was Kristen’s apartment, the walls were covered in different pinned up pictures, some were surprisingly Polaroid and some were printed digitally, and they were for the most part people Victoria didn’t recognize. Surrounding this collage of pictures were colorless Christmas lights hung and draped throughout the room, along with a single light bulb with nothing covering or surrounding it, and this all helped to light up the flat and present the hipster mystique that had clearly begun to influence Kristen heavily. Victoria was certainly either oblivious to Kristen’s early signs of transition and influence from this subculture, or this was a manifestation of her individuality after she was out of school and out of her parent’s arms. This is most definitely not in the same way Victoria was when she moved out of the house; Kristen’s parents were extremely well known within their small little town for their generosity and kindness, whereas of what she’d known, Victoria’s dad and consecutive step-dad’s were simply nefarious psychos (and that’s all she’d be willing to say on the matter). After only a moment’s pause to take in the scene set in Kristen’s flat, Victoria closed the door behind them.

With the door latch clicking closed, Kristen pressed her way to the door to lock it while Victoria continued to study the apartment. In front of her was a wall clearly dedicated to Kristen’s music; covering most of the wall, it was checkered with covers of vinyl albums that held all the records she had from different bands. There was the Beatles, which had the “White album” for its placeholder of their many other albums (it probably had the most records in it based on the thickness of the sleeve), The Clash had their debut album, Led Zeppelin with “Mothership”, Jimi Hendrix with “Electric Ladyland”, Grateful Dead with one of their psychedelic covers (Victoria was never really well versed in them) Pink Floyd with” the Wall”, Jefferson Airplane with their “Volunteer” album, and the rest were indie and alternative groups she had never heard of before. The sheer volume of records and the general aura of her apartment left a strong impression on who Kristen had become after school, and it was her shoulder that swept past Torri that brought her back to the present.

Kristen glanced back at her and stepped aside to let her continue studying the wall, as though she were presenting it. She must have spotted Torri take a breath to say something, because before she could ask about it Kristen was first to speak; “The Great wall of Records,” she began. Her words were a bit of a stutter on occasion, as though she always knew how to respond but not with words, and had never articulated this to anyone outside of the house; seemingly nervous, like presenting something before the professor or someone else of high regard. “… Or so it was called. It’s… well it’s apparently a house tradition, you see. None of those me or my former roommates owned, they've been compiled by the people who lived here before me to create this grand collection of classic records for play.” She turned and moved to the kitchen counter just to Victoria’s left as she explained further. “The record player is mine…. Well, rather I took it from my parent’s house when I moved out. I called it a parting gift.” At this she smirked, already working her hands under the water to clean the few glasses that were there in the sink. Victoria noted very early on in their relationship that Kristen’s humor was always subtle irony or light-hearted comedy in the face of other’s minor misfortune; snarky and sarcastic, with a motif of irony, just as Torri remembered her.

As she spoke, Victoria made herself at home, tossing her pocketbook on the couch and  
pacing over to the record player. A clearly later model in the era of vinyl, it was quite boxy, and it connected to one large speaker that it sat on top of. A plastic tinted case covered the spinning black disc from injury, the needle pressed into the record and it was only half way through the album. She managed to read the title “Pixies” on the front of the spinning circle before confirming she had still never heard of the group, and disengaged. She turned around and looked around at the mess on the ground, and Kristen continued to speak Torri’s mind. 

“It’s been quite the mess as of late due to my friends moving out.” She laughed casually, as if the memory she was recalling humored her. “Oh, countless hours were spent in the weeks leading to their departures dedicated solely to finding all of their stuff. I have no doubts - nor the confidence to confirm - that I will eventually come across something left here that was once one of theirs.” Another casual laugh came from around the corner while Victoria quietly thought and took all that she saw in. It wasn’t particularly as she remembered Kristen, however it does seem like with the right nudge in the direction this was nearly expected. At least Victoria had a general grasp on that concept, so she decided Kristen didn’t deserve the silent treatment from her any longer; she had caught on with the way Kristen talked she was a little nervous, almost afraid of her judgment when she was allowed into her apartment. Torri felt that Kristen knows how different she’d changed over the years, however Victoria believed Kristen was still very much who she was against the sudden counterculture influence.

“I’ll be honest Kris,” she began, keeping the previous ideas in her head to smolder a bit. “As much as I know you miss your friends – given the pictures blazoned on the walls – I’m kinda glad they moved out. Seriously, this place is small enough for one or two people, I have no idea how you could even fit four other people in here!” She chuckled, and Kristen was all too quick to join in with the brief laughter, as though she had been holding her breath for it. “I surely woulda been stumbling around the damn streets looking for a cab or a station by now.”

“Hahah, oh yes,” she chimed in quickly at the end of Torri’s sentence, prepared with a segment of dialogue from her side of the conversation as though she read from a fresh script. “As I’ve been all too familiar with – unfortunately - the kind of male creatures that breed here prey on poor defenseless girls far too easily and common than in your lofty dorms rooms or the saturated streets of Manhattan.” She shut the water of and presumably was drying her hands. Victoria filled the gap with a light laugh and half-minded agreement as she fell down to the worn-in couch. The first thing she noticed was how the middle of the couch had been clearly used more common than the sides, as a divot was formed from ceaseless hours of sitting between the two cushions. It made sitting seem a little awkward at first, however as Kristen came back from the kitchen only feet away, she expected that she would want to sit down with her. This in mind, she only leaned back into the armrest and, predictably, Kristen sat down with her on the other end. Her legs were pressed together from ankles to her knees, and she sat up straight with her hands folded on one another in her lap, literally sitting on the edge of her seat; the mere difference in their physical stature made for the perfect foil between the two.

“Well, Victoria?” Kristen took a breath before speaking in inquiry, a bit deeper than usual. “What do you think of my place? Surely you’re surprised at the change that has occurred in me since we last saw one another, yes? Maybe you’re impressed, or interested in this change?”

Her curiosity in Torri’s interest made her smile. Kristen was and always will remain self-  
conscious of her actions and image, it’s one of the leading reasons she took interest in fashion design in the first place. Victoria felt her eyes lock with Kristen’s, and she broke off, turning her head to look at the door, and then sighed, “Kristen, there’s a little saying that says, ‘the more things change the more they stay the same’. Ever heard of it?” She returned the gaze, a witty smile grew as she finished speaking.

“Why, yes,” Kristen paused only a moment at Torri’s convoluted response. “‘Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose’ is a French proverb deriving from Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr’s ‘The Wasps’, early 1850’s. And you’re insinuating that this applies to me, yes?”Kristen’s long-worded responses entertained Victoria, as if it wasn’t already clear to her she was trying to put on her best first impression. “Sure, if you say so,” she teased.

“Well,” Kristen began, adjusting her posture in the couch, and her eyes glazed over and looked absently at the pizza on the table as she regained some confidence to focus. “Reason suggests you believe that while this is certainly a change in my life and that I’ve progressed since we last saw one another,” She paused, taking her eyes off the small table before them to search Torri’s eyes. Of course this was the shortest moment’s pause thus far, yet she knew to keep her eyes congruent with her outward body language, and Kristen gave up her search for confidence in her blue eyes and continued on. “However, you are also suggesting that I have more or less stayed the same, that you still find familiarity in my behavior and course of action. This also leads me to believe, given your choice to answer a question with a question, that you initially found my changed interests surprising and – for lack of better word – interesting, and that later when you gave it some thought you were able to confirm in your mind that hypothetically this was of course quite possible if I had been influenced in the correct way.” She looked up again, searching once more as she ended with “Is that correct to assume?”

“Mhmm,” Torri confirmed, her voice rising to a sarcastic, playful jeer. “Yeah, you’re still adorable on the spot.”

And with her ending chuckle, the nervous look on Kristen’s face changed to a relieved smile. Her eyebrows pressed upward in the middle, and she couldn’t help but laugh with her a little. “Oh my, Victoria. You, too, haven’t changed a bit.”

“And I ain’t starting anytime soon!” Victoria hollered back triumphantly, sitting up to lean in a little as she yelled. This caught the humor of the both of them, with that the two laughed together, sharing the nostalgia of unchanging friendships, impervious bonds within the relationship between two strong personalities. The chemistry between them sparked and crackled like once more, and the fire atop their candle of friendship grew far brighter than before, however it continued to pale in comparison to its heights when they were just kids in high school. Their relationship began to mend the ailments of age as together they recalled past events in their friendship; when Kristen had just moved into the house on the other side of town and they met as kids wearing the same costume on Halloween; the first of Victoria’s many pranks, the most of which were the result of Kristen’s cleverness and cunning plan-making, and Victoria’s tenacious spirit, the flare she added to the pranks, and her adept ability to carry out the missions flawlessly (they were only caught three times and suspended once, however Kristen never fell victim to it and Victoria vowed to never drag her accomplice in); their middle school graduation and when Kristen was stuck in the locked bathroom and Victoria, in heels and a mild-cut dress, risked being late to her call to pull her friend out through the window, around the school, and through the side entrance without anyone noticing; Kristen’s delicate and precise needle work when Victoria came to her for the seemingly endless patches she wanted sewn onto her jacket, and later her assistance and support in their games of LARP; that one art class they shared when the two pulled an innumerable jokes and little pranks on their teacher;the school play they did together with Kristen assisting in the costumes and joining makeup crew to work with Victoria, the lead of a couple productions and the unforgettable parties they went to after the show, where drama thrived as much as Torri did in those environments; Kristen’s unyielding support when Eric dumped her weeks before prom, to go so far as to even get one of her friends to help out so that Victoria’s meticulous planning and money spent wouldn't go to waste; Victoria’s final, senior year prank with the ten-thousand cups of water that obstructed the halls to which to this day she will not tell how she did it; and finally, their going away parties during the summer, filled with sentimental speeches and some emotional breakdowns. 

The two talked for hours until the sun came up, and by then they still weren't ready to break away from conversation. However, as the sun began to break above the giant block that hung out the window, the elapsed time became more and more of a pressing issue for the two of them, and after a moment of silence because of this shared thought, Kristen first broke it with “Well, do you think you should start looking for that bus back home?”

“And what,” Victoria shot back playfully. “Fall asleep waiting for it?” The two giggled, and she followed up with another question. “Didn’t you say I could stay?”

“‘For the night’, dear, I offered you to stay the night,” Kristen was quick to remind her, even with the pleasant tone that still radiated from their night-long talk.

“Oooh,” Victoria moaned, sarcasm already oozing out of her inflections as she leaned back and casually toss her hands in the air. “Does that mean you’re gonna kick me ouuuut??” 

This managed to get a sustained giggle from Kristen, and she even struggled to gain her breath to reply. 

“N-no Victoria. Of course it doesn’t mean that. However…” She paused, eyeing Victoria’s outfit before continuing. “However you are going to have to shower if you do choose to stay here, or maybe get going after you change into something more presentable.” She did voice genuine concern behind a seemingly dispassionate demeanor that seemed to be her neutral expression. Victoria thought this over for a moment, however she wasn’t exactly sure how to address the issue of changing into her clothes, obviously because she didn’t have a change of clothes on her. That seemed like the only issue to the plan.

“I could change, but I don’t have a change of clothes, clearly.” She pulled up her pocketbook to at least express how she really lacks the space in the first place to carry a change of clothes, her tone delivered with a hint of irritation. 

“Why can’t you take some of my clothes?” Kristen’s response surprised Victoria a bit, not only in how quickly she came up with it or the mere nature of it, but how natural it seemed to her and how indifferent the suggestion seemed to her, as if she did it all the time already. With this, Kristen smiled gently and answered her silent question, "Victoria, please, it's not that big of a deal. At least not here, I mean. You act as though the culture shock is too much for you." Kristen stood up, and Victoria just sat there as she continued to contemplate the idea.

"I have a very fashionable collection at our disposal," Kristen coaxed her, walking away to the kitchen again. There was a door on the side that led to another room behind Victoria that was presumably the bedroom and bathroom. Kristen called from in here, "You can even wipe that contagious glitter off you in the shower."

Victoria sighed. She was in no hurry to object to a nice shower after a night like this, and she figured that she'd actually look nice for once in Kristen's outfits. Either that, or she trusted her to help her look better than she usually does. She got up from the indent in the couch she caused and wandered over to the kitchen where she could see Kristen preparing the shower for her. The doorway had long since lost it's door - there were several holes in the wall that suggested its forced removal - and instead had a collection of 70's beads hanging down from the top, creating a thick weave to pass in order to enter. When she did, she could see the tiny bedroom to her left more clearly, or what little there was of her bedroom; two queen-sized mattresses laid on one another on the wooden floor, an oversized white comforter was drooped over it that had just been cleaned, and besides the sizable drawer that stood behind the bed, that was it. Nothing even hung from the old, faded blue walls, and it was far more clean than the main room.

That was, of course, until Kristen started throwing her dirty clothes out from the bathroom, as she leaned out in front of Victoria to toss them on the bed. Directly across from her was the bathroom Kristen had mentioned, which was a little bit less than what one would normally describe as a bathroom; directly to the left, the toilet. To the right, the sink with a mirror that doubled as a cabinet. And to the center was the shower, just a shower head, a single knob, a shelf lined with bottles and razors, and a drain on the floor. Simple and bare of anything unnecessary, right down to the essentials, and as literal to the letter as it was. And this, too didn't have a door, just a small pile of towels at the bottom of the door frame.

Kristen informed Victoria as she was hurrying around that she would go to the laundromat and wash her clothes; “As soon as you toss me your clothes I’ll be out to do the laundry, along with running a few errands. Do you need anything from the store?”

“Nah, I’ll find something to eat,” she replied absentmindedly, while most of her mind was concerned on how to change without a door. As soon as she motioned Kristen with a shoo of her hands, she managed to gain enough confidence to strip down and toss the remainder of her clothes through the veil of beads. Kristen was quick to bag them in her laundry collection, called bye to Victoria, and the door closed behind her with a lock.

Now here she was; in Kristen’s incredible apartment, yet she had never thought it to have existed prior. She had no idea how small the world was, and just what the chances were that she would run into her oldest friend in a pinch, and just how readily she was to help took Victoria certainly aback. She turned the shower on and let the poor faucet rain down on her, giving her the cleansing feeling she longed for more than many things. One thing that also took her a bit to notice, was that Kristen must have put a new record in, because a new song had begun to play throughout the small living space. Victoria only smiled, tremendously grateful for this, as she allowed herself to become enveloped in it all; the warm rain that ran down her long, dirty, brown hair, over the curves of her back, and down her supple feet; the music that danced around her, entertaining her ears and her mind as she showered. For the time being, for the first time in a while, she forgot how alone she was, both literally and especially figuratively.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's been a very long time since I last uploaded but I promise to continue to work and upload new chapters at least each month! I plan close to 20 chapters, so if you enjoy what you read so far please consider liking or favorate-ing it, I really do appreciate it, and let me know in the comments what you think on my writing. Do you think there were some parts that were a little unclear? Maybe you just really liked one particular line or moment in the chapter? Let me know in the comments bellow!


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